MOKKU: Save pastoralists from devastating drought

Each dawn in the villages in the dryland counties of Kenya, women, children and men wake up disillusioned. They are never sure if they will have a meal to satisfy the painful hunger pangs.

The young children with frail wasted bodies stare at their mothers with eyes full of hope and tears, wishing for just a sip of water to quench the thirst. For infants and pregnant women, dehydration and malnutrition have stuck to them like leeches.

As other parts of our country continue peacefully with their lives, millions of people in the dryland counties of Kenya fight hard for their survival due to the lack of rain. The National Drought Management Authority indicated that 10 counties—Isiolo, Mandera, Samburu, Tharaka Nithi, Turkana, Wajir, Laikipia, Tana River and Marsabit had passed the alarm stage in September 2022.

Lack of rain is always a silent disaster for the pastoralist people. The situation is currently very dramatic. The soil is too dry to grow crops or vegetables for families, this means no harvest and nothing to eat after the livestock have died.

Many pastoralist families have already lost up to 60 per cent of their livestock, which are often their only source of income and their livelihood. As a result, they can no longer afford to buy food. The situation is exacerbated by the sharp rise in global food prices.

Millions of lives are threatened by hunger. On October 9, an elderly man from the Lesalkapo family was found dead by herders at loongujit near Lodosoit Ndonyo Wasin location in Samburu East subcounty. The cause of death was confirmed to be hunger. The case was reported to Sereolipi police station and the body was taken to Isiolo hospital mortuary.

The rains have failed for four consecutive seasons. The prediction is that the current season is not promising too. As a result, 4.1 million people, largely pastoralists in Northern Kenya, are facing starvation and very serious food and water shortages. The people’s asset and heritage, livestock and wildlife (national heritage), which Kenya is renowned for, besides athletics, are on the brink of drought disaster.

In June, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, reported that there are now more severely food insecure people in Kenya than there were during both the droughts of 2010-2011 and 2016-2017. It added that malnutrition is also increasing at an alarming rate.

At least 942,000 children under the age of five and some 134,000 pregnant or lactating women urgently needed treatment. More than 15 million people are now acutely food insecure across the Horn of Africa because of drought, up from 13 million at the beginning of the year.

Should the short rains fail as predicted and increased relief assistance efforts not properly upscaled, this number of acutely food insecure could rise to 20 million people by the end of the year.

More than 9 million livestock have died across the region (1.5 million in Kenya, 4.6 million in Ethiopia and 3 million in Somalia). More than 4.4 million people in Ethiopia, 3.9 million in Somalia and 3.3 million in Kenya could not access drinking water.

Ending Drought Emergency, the most celebrated robust ASAL institution created to support EDE investment, policy and programming decisions, based on critical evidence generated by solid knowledge management, is certainly not succeeding.

The response to the drought from both the national and county governments and other actors is not satisfactory. The UN OCHA had capped the amount needed to respond to the highest priority needs at $180.7 million. All actors need to join hands and support the pastoralists who are feeling the pinch from the effects of climate change despite contributing least to the effects of climate change.

Drought has become a frequent phenomenon in the dryland counties. According to researchers, Turkana county has experienced 35 droughts in the past 60 years, with one severe drought every 24 months.

One of the reasons Kenya has not come up with adequate and lasting solutions is that the causes have not been carefully studied and considered. The only way to find a solution to the problem is to fully comprehend the root cause. The causes of drought are related to inadequate or no rainfall, global warming, deforestation and insecurity, among others.

Approaching drought in order to respond to emergencies must stop. It is devastating to the country and our people. For now, an immediate and well-coordinated inter-agency action to help the pastoralist people not to lose more livestock and themselves die from the devastating effects of the drought should be the top priority.

The people need and deserve clean drinking water and enough water and pasture for the livestock and wildlife in Northern Kenya. Pastoralist people need enough food. The government needs to review drought management policies and normalise it rather than leave it to become an emergency every two years.

The government, donors, development partners and other non-state actors need to urgently come together to ensure the people in Northern Kenya do not die for lack of food and water. There is enough water and food in this country to cushion every citizen as we seek lasting solutions.

Pastoralism is a thriving economic endeavour and the most viable enterprise in drylands with adequate planning and investment. The best course of action is to make it sustainable by making sure livestock and wildlife have enough pasture and water to prevent migration, which causes conflicts.

To enable people to sell their livestock and make a living, the national government must invest in establishing production facilities in conjunction with county governments and ensure that the purchasing price is regulated by the market.

President William Ruto, during Mashujaa Day celebrations, said he will set up the Climate Change Council to steer Kenya’s climate action through stakeholder engagements coordinated in the presidency, as required by the Climate Change Act, 2016.

He should make sure it uses a bottom-up approach and ensure people from the dryland counties are not excluded or marginalised in this national initiative because the wearer of the shoes knows where it pinches most.

I urge all Kenyans and the world to hold the pastoralist peoples' hands and protect them from the painful effects of the drought.

CEO, Drylands Learning and Capacity Building Initiative, the secretariat of the Pastoralist Parliamentary Group.